Encryption: The Next Big Security Threat

July 29, 2015 — Telnet Networks

As is common in the high-tech industry, fixing one problem often creates another. The example I’m looking at today is network data encryption. Encryption capability, like secure sockets layer (SSL), was devised to protect data packets from being read or corrupted by non-authorized users. It’s used on both internal and external communications between servers, as well as server to clients. Many companies (e.g. Google, Yahoo, WebEx, Exchange, SharePoint, Wikipedia, E*TRADE, Fidelity, etc.) have turned this on by default over the last couple of years.

Unfortunately, encryption is predicted to become the preferred choice of hackers who are creating malware and then using encrypted communications to propagate and update the malware. One current example is the Zeus botnet, which uses SSL communications to upgrade itself. Gartner Research stated in their report “Security Leaders Must Address Threats From Rising SSL Traffic” that by 2017, 50% of malware threats will come from using SSL encrypted traffic. This will create a serious blind spot for enterprises. Gartner also went on to state that less than 20% of firewalls, UTM, and IPS deployments support decryption. Both of these statistics should be alarming to anyone involved in network security.

And it’s not just Zeus you need to look out for. There are several types of growing encrypted malware threats. The Gartner report went on to mention two more instances (one being a Boston Marathon newsflash) of encryption being misused by malware threats. Other examples exist as well: the Gameover Trojan, Dyre, and a new Upatre variant just found in April.

Another key point to understand is that “just turning on encryption” isn’t a simple, low-cost fix, especially when using 2048-bit RSA keys that have been mandated since January 1, 2014. NSS labs ran a study and found that the decryption capability in typical firewalls reduced the throughput of the firewalls by up to 74%. The study also found an average performance loss of 81% across all eight vendors that they evaluated. Turning on encryption/decryption capabilities will cost you—both in performance and in higher network costs.

And, it gets worse! Firewalls, IPS’ and other devices are usually only deployed at the edge of enterprise networks. The internal network communications between server to sever and server to client often go unexamined within many enterprises. These internal communications can be up to 80% of your encrypted traffic. Once the malware gets into your network, it uses SSL to camouflage its activities. You’ll never know about it—data can be exfiltrated, virus’ and worms can be released, or malicious code can be installed. This is why you need to look at internally encrypted traffic as well. Constant vigilance is now the order of the day.

One way to implement constant vigilance is for IT teams is to spot check their network data to see if there are hidden threats. Network packet brokers (NPBs) that support application intelligence with SSL decryption are a good solution. Application intelligence is the ability to monitor packets based on application type and usage. It can be used to decrypt network packets and dynamically identify the applications running (along with malware) on a network. And since the decryption is performed on out-of-band monitoring data, there is no performance impact.

An easy answer to gain visibility, especially for internally encrypted traffic, is to deploy the Ixia ATI Processor. The Ixia ATI Processor uses bi-directional, stateful decryption capability, and allows you to look at both encrypted internal and external communications. Once the monitoring data is decrypted, application filtering can be applied and the information can be sent to dedicated, purpose-built monitoring tools (like an IPS, IDS, SIEMs, network analyzers, etc.).

Ixia’s Application and Threat Intelligence (ATI) Processor, built for the NTO 7300 and also the NTO 6212 standalone model, brings intelligent functionality to the network packet broker landscape with its patent pending technology that dynamically identifies all applications running on a network. This product gives IT organizations the insights needed to ensure the network works—every time and everywhere. This visibility product extends past Layer 4 through to Layer 7 and provides rich data regarding the behavior and locations of users and applications in the network.

As new network security threats emerge, the ATI Processor helps IT improve their overall security with better intelligence for their existing security tools. The ATI Processor correlates applications with geography and can identify compromised devices and malicious activities such as Command and Control (CNC) communications from malicious botnet activities. IT organizations can now dynamically identify unknown applications, identify security threats from suspicious applications and locations, and even audit for security policy infractions, including the use of prohibited applications on the network or devices.